Eskom, SAA and Transnet lost billions to corruption and bribery in the last five years

CAPE TOWN – Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said the country’s largest state entities have lost billions due to corruption and bribery over the past five years.

Gordhan was responding to a written question in Parliament about Eskom, South African Airways (SAA) and Transnet, and how much corruption had cost the entities.

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But he said they had managed to recover some of the money lost to companies such as Transnet, totaling R1.6 billion.

Gordhan said a state capture initiative resulted in a civil litigation strategy to recover funds associated with losses suffered during the era of state capture and administrative corruption.

His response showed that Transnet appeared to have suffered the most losses due to corruption.

The total value of matters referred by Transnet to the authorities for further investigation is R2.1 billion.

On Transnet’s actual losses, Gordhan said they could only be determined once the outcome of the criminal investigation was concluded, where the extent of the losses could be quantified.

Eskom’s losses due to corruption, although not as high as Transnet’s, amount to R203 million.

Since 2019, SAA has lost a total of R23 million due to corruption, fraud and bribery.

Gordhan said Transnet’s recoveries amounted to R1.6 billion and they managed to recover R870 million from consulting firm McKinsey alone.